Key assembly for musical instruments



Sept. 9,1952 E. J. ENS

KEY ASSEMBLY FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed July 5, 1951 2&2.

M III E II] INVENTOR. M fmj/J 506 W 6, #Zli;

A TTOR/VEYJ Patented Sept. 9, 1952 KEY- ASSEMBLY FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTSEmil J. Ens, Newark, N. 1., assignor to Magnus Harmonica Corporation,Newark, N. .L, a corporation of New'Jersey Application July 5, 1951,Serial No. 235.288 10 Claims. (o1. 84- 376) The present inventionrelates to a key assembly for musical instruments.

An object of the invention is to provide a key assembly andkey-operating mechanism for musical instruments, particularly of thetype employing a number of keys, that is inexpensive to manufacture andthat makes the assembly operation simpler and less expensive. Anotherobject of the invention is to provide a key assembly which'provides auniform action for the operation of each of the keys. Other objects andadvantages of the invention will be apparent and best understood fromthe following description and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a key assembly for a musical instrumentembodying the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view of the key assembly illustrated inFig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a section view taken along the. line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of certain parts of the key assembly illustratedin Figs. 1 to 3;

Fig. 5 is an elevational'view of the portions of the key assemblyillustrated in Fig. 4; and

. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a key-actuating member for the keyassembly illustrated in Figs.

4 and 5.

In the accompanying drawings a key assembly for an accordion has beenillustrated and will be described hereinafter. However, it will beunderstood that a key assembly embodying my invention may be employed inother types of key-operated musical instruments by suitable changes.

Referring now to the drawings in detail and particularly to Figs. 1 and3, there is an end plate ID of an accordionwhich has a series of spacedopenings II therein. Each of the openings II in the end plate Icommunicates with a reed or other sound-producing instrumentality (notshown) so that by opening and closing the openings II in an appropriatemanner, the desired sound or melody may be produced in the usual manner.

v Secured to the face of the end plate In there is a base I2 whichsupports a cover I3 thereon. The base and cover support a key assembly,indicated generally at I4, in operating position with respect to theopenings II in the end plate In.

The key assembly I4 includes a series of independently movable keys I5,which are mounted side by side and each of which has an arm I6 thatextends over one of the apertures II in the end plate Ill. Each of thekeys I also has a forwardly extending arm I1 that carries a button I8thereon that extends through an opening it in the cover I3. Each of thekeys I5 is pivoted, intermediate its ends, as will be describedhereinafter, and is manually movable by pressing on the buttons E6 in adirection to open the air passageways or openings I i in the instrumentas desired. in the playing of the instrument.

The rear faces of the arms I6 are flat and these faces are resilientlyheld in engagement with the end plate It so as to close the openings IItherein by a key-actuating member 28. The key-actu ating member 29 ispreferably made from one piece of a resilient plastic material andconsists of a body portion 2| that engages with and bears againsttheinside of the cover I3 so as to anchor or hold the body in fixedposition. Extending along one edge of the body 2| and formed integrallytherewith, there is a series of spaced spring fingers, 22 which'in thiscase extend at an angle to the body 2i. Each of the spring fingers 22extends through an opening 23 in one of the'keys i5 of the series ofkeys and engages with the bottom of the forwardly extending arm I"!thereof. The spring fingers 22 urge the forwardly extending arms Hupward and resiliently hold the rear faces of arms I6 against the endplate H3. The keys may be moved to open the passageways by depressingthe buttons I8 on and the forwardly extending arms against theresiliency of the spring fingers and when the buttons I8 are released,the spring fingers will automatically return the keys to closedposition.

The edge of the body 2| of the resilient keyactuating member 26extending between the spaced spring fingers 22 forms shoulders 24 thatare seated in slots 25 cut in the top of forwardly extending arms ll ofthe keys on each side of the openings 23 through which the springfingers pass and the keys I5 pivot about the shoulders 25 in theirmovement from open to closed position as described above.

For ease of assembly and to. obtain uniform action of the keys, theresilient key-actuating member 20 is preferably made from one piece of aresilient plastic material. Suitable plastics from which thekey-operating member or spring Eilmay be made are polystyrene, syntheticlinear super polymers such as nylon, vinylide chloride polymers, waterinsoluble cellulose ether, plasticized cellulose esters, vinyl esterpolymers or acrylic polymers. Such materials have been found to beextremely durable and to maintain uniform resiliency during their life.The keyactuating member may be molded or extruded and machined from suchmaterials in the usual manner. However, if desired, the key-actuatinmember may be made of a suitable metal.

As indicated in Fig. 4, the keys l5 may be assembled in proper relationto each other on the resilient key-actuating member 20 to form the keyassembly l4 and this assembly can then be inserted as a unit in thecover [3. This arrangement greatly simplifies the assembly operationsover constructions where indivdual springs are used for each key and italso reduces the cost of the key assembly.

It will be understood that various changes and modifications may be madein the embodiment of the invention illustrated and described hereinwithout departing from the scope of the invention as defined by thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. A key assembly for a musical instrument comprising a series ofindependently movable keys and a key-actuating member of resilientplastic material having a series of spaced fingers thereon, each of saidspaced fingers engaging with one key of the series of keys andresiliently urging said key in one direction, said key being depressablemanually in an opposite direction.

2. A key assembly for a musical instrument comprising a series ofindependently movable keys, said keys being pivoted at pointsintermediate their ends and being movable about said pivot points. inthe opening and closing of air passageways in a musical instrument, anda keyactuating member of resilient plastic material, said key-actuatingmember having a series of spaced fingers formed integrally therewith,each of said fingers engaging with one of the keys of said series ofkeys and resiliently urging said key in one direction about its pivotpoint.

3. A key assembly for a musical instrument comprising a series ofindependently movable keys, each of said keys having an opening thereinat a point intermediate its ends and a keyactuating member of resilientplastic material on which said keys are pivotally supported, said memberhaving a series of spaced spring fingers formed integrally therewith,each of said fingers extending through the opening in one of the keys ofsaid series of keys and engaging with and resiliently urging said key inone direction.

4. A key assembly for a musical instrument comprising a series ofindependently movable keys, each of said keys having an opening thereinintermediate its ends and slots in one surface thereof adjacentsaidopening, and a keyactuating member of resilient plastic material,said key-actuating member consisting of a. body having a series ofspaced spring fingers extending along one edge thereof and shouldersextending between the spaced spring fingers, said shoulders engagingwith the slots in the keys and pivotally supporting the keys on saidmember for movement in opening and closing air passageways in; theinstrument, each of said spring fingers extending through the opening inone of the keys of said series of keys and engaging with and resilientlyurging said key in one direction about said member.

5. A key assembly for a musical instrument comprising a series ofindependently movable keys, each of said keys having an opening thereinintermediate its ends and slots in one surface thereof adjacent saidopening, a key-actuating member of resilient plastic material, saidkeyactuating member consisting of a body having a.

series of spaced spring fingers extending along one edge thereof andshoulders extending between the spaced spring fingers, said shouldersengaging with the slots in the keys and pivotally supporting the keys onsaid member for movement in opening and closing air passageways in theinstrument, each of said spring fingers extending through the opening inone of the keys of said series of keys and engaging with and resilientlyurging said key in one direction about said member and means foranchoring the body of said key-actuating member in a fixed position.

6. A key assembly for a musical instrument comprising a .series ofindependently movable keys, each of said keys having an opening thereinintermediate its ends and slots in one surface thereof adjacent saidopening, a key-actuating member of resilient plastic material, saidkeyactuating member consisting of a body having a series of spacedspring fingers extending along one edge thereof and shoulders extendingbetween the spaced spring fingers, said shoulders engaging with theslots in the keys and pivotally supporting the keys on said member formovement in opening and closing air passageways in the instrument, eachof said spring fingers extending through the opening in one of the keysof said series of keys and engaging with and resiliently urging said keyin one direction about said member and a cover extending over said keys,said cover engaging with and holding the body of the key-actuatingmember in a fixed position.

'7. A key assembly for a musical instrument comprising a series ofindependently movable keys having arms extending over and closing airpassageways in a musical instrument and arms accessible for manualoperation thereof, each of said keys having an opening thereinintermediate its ends and a key-actuating member of resilient plasticmaterial on which said keys are pivotally supported, a series of spacedspring fingers carried by said key-actuating member, each of said springfingers extending through the opening in one of the keys of said seriesof keys, said spring finger engaging with the respective keys of theseries of keys and resiliently urging the keys in a direction to closethe air passageways in the instrument.

8. A key-actuating member for resiliently maintaining a series of keysof a musical instrument in closed position which comprises a body ofresilient plastic material, a series of spaced spring fingers formedintegrally with said body and extending from said body along one sidethereof, and shoulders extending between adjacent fingers of said seriesof fingers.

9. A key-actuating member for resiliently maintaining a series of keysof a musical instrument in closed position as described in claim 8wherein said body and spring fingers are formed from polystyrene. I

10. A key-actuating member for resiliently maintaining a series of keysof a musical instrument in closed position which comprises a body ofresilient plastic material, a series ofspaced Spring fingers formedintegrally with said body and extending at an angle from said body alongone side thereof, and shoulders'extending between adjacent fingers ofsaid series 01 fingers.

EMIL J. ENS.

' No references cited.

